Bedford, Mass. - May 7, 2024 - Aspen Technology, Inc. (AspenTech) (NASDAQ: AZPN), a global leader in industrial software, today announced financial results for its third quarter in fiscal 2024, ended March 31, 2024.

Antonio Pietri, President and Chief Executive Officer of AspenTech, commented, “Our third quarter performance and updated outlook for fiscal 2024 reflects the more cautious customer buying behavior we experienced at the start of the new calendar year. While this dynamic is expected to weigh on ACV growth in the near-term, the continued health and expansion of our pipeline gives us confidence in the underlying growth opportunity for AspenTech.”

“AspenTech remains well positioned to support customers in their efforts to capitalize on the long-term investment trends of global decarbonization, electrification, and the transition to a new energy system. The opportunity for further collaboration and co-innovation in these areas was on full display last week at our biennial user conference, OPTIMIZE 24. Now, more than ever, our customers are being asked to meet the world’s increasing demand for resources in a sustainable manner, and AspenTech is providing the solutions to make this a reality,” concluded Pietri.

Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Recent Business Highlights

Summary of Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results

AspenTech’s total revenue was $278.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 and included the following:

Recent Developments

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

AspenTech today announced the appointment of David Baker to the position of Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, effective June 3, 2024. Mr. Baker previously was employed by Emerson for over 27 years. Mr. Baker brings to the role deep financial acumen, operational expertise, and significant senior financial leadership experience from his prior roles at Emerson, including Vice President, Financial Planning, where he led the financial planning and analysis function for Emerson since March 2023, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Automation Solutions, from November 2018 to February 2023, and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Measurement and Analytical, from July 2013 to November 2018. Mr. Baker holds an M.B.A. in Operations Management from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa.

Appointment of Director of the Board

AspenTech’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) elected David Henshall as a director of the Board, effective April 26, 2024. Mr. Henshall most recently served as Chief Executive Officer at Citrix Systems, Inc., a leading multinational provider of cloud computing and virtualization technology, where he held executive roles for nearly twenty years. An experienced public company board director, Mr. Henshall actively serves as the Chairman of the board of directors of Everbridge, Inc., is a member of the board of directors of HashiCorp, Inc. and Feedzai, Inc, and is a former member of the boards of directors of New Relic, Inc. and LogMeIn, Inc. He holds a M.B.A. from Santa Clara University and a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Arizona.

Share Repurchase Authorization Update 

AspenTech repurchased 288,241 shares for $56.7 million under its $300.0 million share repurchase authorization, announced on August 1, 2023, in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. As of March 31, 2024, a total of 1,243,080 shares had been repurchased under the share repurchase authorization for $243.1 million, with the total remaining value being $56.9 million.

Fiscal Year 2024 Business Outlook

Based on information as of today, May 7, 2024, AspenTech is updating its fiscal 2024 guidance.  

These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. Refer to the Forward-Looking Statements safe harbor below for information on the factors that could cause AspenTech’s actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. 

Conference Call and Webcast

AspenTech will host a conference call and webcast presentation on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its financial results, business outlook, and related corporate and financial matters. A live webcast of the call will be available on AspenTech’s Investor Relations website, http://ir.aspentech.com, via its “Webcasts” page. To access the call by phone, please use the following registration link. To avoid delays, we encourage participants to dial into the conference call fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. A replay of the webcast also will be available for a limited time at http://ir.aspentech.com/.

AspenTech has provided an earnings presentation for its third quarter of fiscal 2024. AspenTech asks that shareholders refer to this presentation in conjunction with the conference call, which can be found at ir.aspentech.com.

Footnotes

About AspenTech

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN) is a global software leader helping industries at the forefront of the world’s dual challenge meet the increasing demand for resources from a rapidly growing population in a profitable and sustainable manner. AspenTech solutions address complex environments where it is critical to optimize the asset design, operation and maintenance lifecycle. Through our unique combination of deep domain expertise and innovation, customers in asset-intensive industries can run their assets safer, greener, longer and faster to improve their operational excellence. To learn more, visit AspenTech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical may be “forward-looking” statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties, and AspenTech undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect later developments. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our guidance for fiscal 2024, our expectations regarding cash collections, closing of customer renewals and completion of our share repurchase authorization. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “strategy,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” “opportunity” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of our transaction with Emerson Electric Co.; risks resulting from our status as a controlled company; the scope, duration and ultimate impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Hamas conflict; as well as economic and currency conditions, market demand (including related to adverse changes in the process or other capital-intensive industries such as materially reduced spending budgets due to oil and gas price declines and volatility), pricing, protection of intellectual property, cybersecurity, natural disasters, tariffs, sanctions, competitive and technological factors, and inflation; and others, as set forth in AspenTech’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The outlook contained herein represents AspenTech’s expectation for its consolidated results, other than as noted herein.

© 2024 Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech, aspenONE, asset optimization and the Aspen leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks not owned by AspenTech are property of their respective owners.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains “non-GAAP financial measures” under the rules of the SEC. Non-GAAP financial measures are not based on a comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. This non-GAAP information supplements, and is not intended to represent a measure of performance in accordance with, disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or superior to, financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial tables included in this press release.

Management considers both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results in managing AspenTech’s business. As the result of adoption of new licensing models, management believes that a number of AspenTech’s performance indicators based on GAAP, including revenue, gross profit, operating income and net income, should be viewed in conjunction with certain non-GAAP and other business measures in assessing AspenTech’s performance, growth and financial condition. Accordingly, management utilizes a number of non-GAAP and other business metrics, including the non-GAAP metrics set forth in this press release, to track AspenTech’s business performance.